Thursday, August 27, 2015

Somewhere Between Gidget, Muscle Beach, and Some of Those Elvis Movies, Minus Elvis, of Course

Not us, but you can get the idea.

We had great fun on our excursion today. There were eighteen of us in total, which was more than I epected to be there. As a young adult, I so appreciate the idea that we are adults and do not need chaperones or anyone else supervising us. Very few of us are immature enough to do anything truly stupid, and those who are that immature are vastly outnumbered.

Our outing was sort of like a 2015 version of Beach Blanket Bingo or whatever that movie was called. We played football, played in th surf, made pyramids on the sand, and had tons of fun, which will have to last us for awhile because we probabl won't have a hell of a lot of fun again for months.

I slathered on the sunscreen and didn't get burned at all. In my normal day-to-day activities I don't mess with sunscreen because I don't believe the verdict is in on it yet, and I believe a certain amount of sun exposure is healthful. If one's skin is getting burned, the sun exposure is probably beyond healthful, but my skin doesn't burn from normal exposureat non-tropical latitudes. It's only when I'm out in the sun all day or at the beach or on the water than I worry about it.

When I was a child, I tanned very easily. Many [though not all] children have natural protection from sunburn that Mother Nature gives them in the form of the ability to tan easily. I was dark enough in the spring, summer, and early fall that with my tightly curly hair I had the appearance of a bi-racial child for a few years. I suspect I could still tan if I went about it gradually until I'd built up a basic tan, and then totally went for it. Tanning for adults doesn't necessarily translate into skin that ages well, however, and that's also where the skin cancer risk comes in my opinion -- not from the sun exposure encountered by a child whose skin tolerates it well. In any event, i spent the day in the sun and am no worse for the wear.

I'm ready for school tomorrow. Our class time is lighter than it was in the past. We study on Wednesdays, as an important test will come late in the year, and anyone who is not a total foll will begin studying immediately rrather than waiting until spring. We also have no class on Friday afternoons. The free Friday fternoons are exttre appealing to me. I can study late thursday night because of the shortened workload on friday, then either sleep it off on Friday afternoon and oplan to study on the weekend, or even travel home on the weekend and get an early start. I plan to visit hoe more this year than last year becaase next year the opportunities to leave the area of the shcool will be limited.

I have my clothes all in order. I have my surgical scrubs of various colors, my professional clothes, my totally slutty clothing, my clothing that isn't totally slutty but is edgy enough to attract the attention of the males around, and my comfortable clothing. Some girls wear pajamas to lectures, but I cannot bring mysef to wear pajams in public. I consider it unbefitting of a future physician, and I suspect the professors and others upon whom we will call to make recommendations for us in the futute feel the same way. i have tons of comfy pajamas for studying, but I wear them in the condo rather than in lecture halls.

Earlier in my med school career, i swore I would never wear pink scrubs. Then I came across a Grey's Anatomy site that offered scrubs in a variety of colors that actually come in my size. They can only be worn for lectures, labs, and leisure, as hospital-issue scrubs will need to be worn once we're one duty. For day-to-day wear, I find them most comfy.

3 comments:

It seems weird to us Aussies that you wear scrubs for anything other than OR or the ED. I freaked in the US seeing people wearing scrubs on the street or public transport on their way to work. Hospital provided scrubs-in blue only- is the order of the day but inside the hospital only.

I'm old enough to remember stiffly starched white coats and the etiquette/status around them. Waist length coats for students and interns,full length for resident and above. Females could wear long. For OR females had dresses, pink for students and nurses and white for doctors. The males had boiler suits. There was a mini-revolution when a couple of female med students snaffled a couple of sets of boiler suits and wore them. Working in ER was normal clothes under white coats. YUK!!! We certainly didn't wear anything we were fond of.

I spent some time in an old traditional hospital in the UK. My first ward round was like something from Florence NIghtingale days. The consultant in three-piece suit under his starched white leading his entourage from bed to bed down the long ward was so formal. This was followed by morning tea served to him from the silver tea service. Noticing the collar of his coat was turned up , I went over and said"Excuse me,sir.. your coat collar's standing up " and proceeded to turn it down for him. Silence..........I was ushered outside and informed that this was a sign that he had done his first undergraduate degree at either Oxford or Cambridge and that I, a hick colonial ,had committed a social faux pas..

It was good to return to good old Oz where we are not so heirarchically driven.

About Me

UPDATE:I'm now midway through my third year of medical school.
I'm nearly through my final year of college. I'm a biochemistry major with add-on majors in piano performance and violin performance. I have a minor in English.
Next year I'll move on to bigger though not necessarily better things.